Man dies in burning car after driving around live-wire barrier

FRANKLIN LAKES — A driver who went around a barricade died when his car went over a live wire on Thursday.

The incident may be the first reported fatality of this week's nor'easter.

The barricade was set up on Summit Avenue near Route 208 after the wire came down, according to police Capt. John Bakelaar.

He said police arrived to find the vehicle fully engulfed in flames and the wire in the street.

Bakelaar said the person inside the vehicle had not yet been identified.

Experts advise that if you are in a vehicle when a live wire falls on it, stay inside.

"Absolutely stay in your car and wait for help to arrive," JCP&L spokesman Chris Eck said. "If the wires are touching your car, your car can be live. All the electricity is looking for is a path to ground. If you step out of the car and touch the car and the ground at the same time, you become the ground,"

Eck said that you can safely use your cell phone and roll down down the window, "but stay in the car."

If the car is on fire, "jump clear of the car. You don't want to touch the ground and the car at the same time."